Gold makes slight gains in the course of the week
Market report Michael Blumenroth – 12.10.2017
Weekly market report
Due to scheduling reasons, I have to finish these lines already on Thursday afternoon this week. And up to now, things are not looking that bad at all for gold.
Last Friday afternoon, gold had come under some pressure for a short while after the publication of US labour market data. On the one hand, there was a negative surprise as far as the number of newly created jobs was concerned. However, market observers focused their attention primarily on the increase in average hourly wages, which proved to be significantly higher than expected. This initially gave a boost to the US dollar and caused a rise in the yields on 10-year US Treasuries which peaked at 2.40 per cent. In the later course of the evening, however, it became clear that all the figures contained in the labour market report were probably distorted by the impact of hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
In the current week, US Treasury yields and the US dollar have rather tended to lose ground. In this regard, the markets are still waiting for details of the tax reform in the US – a subject that is likely to drag on for quite some time.
Expressed in US dollars, gold was still trading at 1,269 US$/ounce on Friday last week before dropping to 1,261 US$/ounce after the publication of the US labour market data. Since 4:00 pm last Friday, however, it has seen a pretty continuous upward trend, reaching 1,297.50 US$/ounce on Thursday morning. The strong price gains of metals like copper and palladium, which highlight the general strength of metal prices over the course of this week, have certainly been helpful. At present (Thursday 4:00 pm), gold is trading at 1,293 US$/ounce.
Due to the strong performance of the euro against the US dollar, the price gains of Xetra-Gold have turned out to be slightly less significant. From 34.90 €/gram last Friday, the price of Xetra-Gold initially fell to 34.67 €/gram in the afternoon. In the further course of the day, however, it was already on the rise again and hit a weekly high, for the time being, on Tuesday at 35.26 €/gram. Right now, the price stands at 35.10 €/gram.
Friday is going to be an eventful day, with consumer price and retail sales data expected for release in the US. Likewise, we are also waiting for a number of speakers on the part of both the Federal Reserve Bank and the ECB. Next week, news relating to the United States’ domestic and foreign policy and expectations concerning the monetary policies of the central banks are likely to be the main issues that will keep the markets busy.
I wish all my readers a relaxing late summer weekend!